Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 59 The plague started, and the plague killed people (one supplement)

Historically, after the Qing army captured Yangzhou, they crossed the Yangtze River in May and wiped out the Hongguang court, but the appearance of Wang Yan changed the course of history.

Wang Yan recaptured Yangzhou, and with the power of one city, alone resisted the siege of Doduo's 30 troops, and entrusted the Qing soldiers in Jiangbei for more than a month.

By June of the Yichou year (1645), the Hongguang court had existed for one month longer than in another period of history.

During this period of time, the Hongguang court did not make much change due to fierce party struggles, official corruption, domineering generals, and historical inertia.

Among the people, many changes have taken place in the extra month. Historically, the Qing soldiers went south in early April and occupied Nanjing in mid-May. The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River had no time to respond, and the imperial court had perished.

Now, with the news of Wang Yan's resistance in Jiangbei and the plundering of Qing soldiers in Jiangbei to Jiangnan, the scholars and common people feel very frightened.Although the imperial court did not make any achievements due to party struggles and other reasons, the people formed a force against the Qing Dynasty invisibly.

In March, after Chen Zilong and Wang Yan parted ways in Nanjing, they stayed in Nanjing for half a month to complete Wang Yan's entrustment, contact courtiers everywhere, and advise against the Qing court, but when he was in the temple, he could not affect the court situation. Being in the wild of the rivers and lakes, naturally it will not have any effect.

Chen Zilong ran up and down with Zuo Maodi, contacted acquainted ministers, and wrote several books of advice, but there was no news. He couldn't help being disheartened, said goodbye to his friends in Nanjing, and returned to his hometown in Songjiang with his disciple Xia Wanchun.

In April, Chen Zilong was giving lectures at home, and suddenly he was shocked to hear that the Qing army went south, all Jiangbei rebelled, Shi Gong died, and he was shocked.

Chen Zilong was disheartened by the court situation, but he didn't want to sit and watch Hu Qi go south. He inquired about the news from many sources and learned that Wang Yan had recaptured Yangzhou and was guarding the isolated city. , but did not do their best. The [-] soldiers and horses were afraid of the overwhelming power of the Qing army, and stopped in Zhenjiang, not daring to cross the river to support them.

Chen Zilong was worried, fearing that Wang Yan would not be able to hold on for a long time, so he would dissipate the family wealth by himself, together with Xia Yunyi, Xia Wanchun's father, got the support of the prefect of Songjiang, trained the local bravery of Songjiang, and prepared to ask the court to help Yang.

Zuo Maodi was in the imperial court, seeing the Qing army besieged for a long time, the ministers were arguing endlessly, but there was no real solution to rescue the siege of Yangzhou. He only heard the two parties fighting every day when he went to court, and felt that the Ming Dynasty was overthrowing the country. The risk of sacrifice.

Zuo Maodi deeply felt that it was useless to listen to the two parties attacking each other every day in the imperial court, so he asked to play the emperor and went to Zhejiang to raise his own troops and horses to help Yang.

Emperor Hongguang was dizzy from the courtiers' quarrel, and felt that Zuo Maodi was a man of fact, so he followed his play and entered Zhejiang as the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War to recruit soldiers.

Zuo Maodi left Nanjing at the end of May, entered Zhejiang, and tried to persuade him. It happened that Wu Yi, the head of the staff who had originally served under Shi Kefa, was ordered to go to Zhejiang to raise food.

Yangzhou was besieged, Shi Kefa died, and Wu Yi was stranded in Zhejiang. Hearing that Zuo Maodi urgently needed food and grass, he recruited new soldiers to help Yang, and went to serve with food and grass.

With the help of Wu Yi, Zuo Maodi immediately opened up the situation in Zhejiang, and then Wu Yi recruited Sun Zhaokui, a fellow from Wujiang from Nanzhili, and Shen Ziju came to serve.

For a time, many scholars and literati gathered under Zuo Maodi's command. Everyone brainstormed, offered advice and suggestions, and recruited landless people. There were thousands of fishermen from Taihu Lake, which was quite powerful.

During the month when Wang Yan entrusted the Qing army in Jiangbei, the people in Jiangnan suddenly felt that the country was in danger of overthrow and defeat. They were afraid of the imminent military disaster, and many gentry began to recruit warriors in order to protect themselves.

In the south of the Yangtze River, Chen Zilong and Zuo Mao are definitely not the only places where soldiers are trained and prepared for war.

At this time, Wang Yan, who was struggling in Jiangbei, finally ushered in his greatest challenge. Duoduo's plan of throwing away the corpse worked. Although he controlled Yangzhou City in every possible way, the plague still broke out.

Outside the city, Duoduo had never attacked Yangzhou since he planned to dump the corpse. During this period, Wang Yan led the soldiers to break through the Qing army camp outside the east gate, killed the green battalion general Zhang Tianlu, and sent people out of the city to ask for help. , and even encouraged Zhang Tianfu who had suffered a defeat.

In Duduo's view, the defenders in Yangzhou risked their lives to go out of the city to ask for help, which proved that his poisonous plan had worked. Yangzhou was no longer an impenetrable fortified city, and the defenders could no longer support them. He just had to wait for the right time.

Duduo only ordered the Qing army to strengthen its defenses and not allow the soldiers and civilians of Yangzhou to leave the city, and then strictly prevented the plague from appearing in the army camps of the Qing army.

At this time, puffs of thick smoke rose from the city. It was the Yangzhou defenders who were burning the corpses of the dead. Wang Yan covered his face with a cloth, only showing his tired and sunken eyes, and so did the people around him.

"How many people died today?" Wang Yan felt heavy in his heart as he watched the soldiers continue to carry the corpses and throw them into the fire pit for burning.

"General, there are more than a thousand people!" A middle-aged man in a green shirt saluted and replied tremblingly.

This person is Chen Tianba, a local doctor in Yangzhou, who was entrusted by Wang Yan with the important task of curing the epidemic.

"How many people are infected?" Wang Yan frowned slightly when he heard that, more than 70 people died in a day, and the [-] soldiers and civilians in Yangzhou would die in a short time without the Qing soldiers attacking.

"The number of infected people has decreased." Chen Tianba replied again after hearing the words: "The General Security's strategy is to isolate the infected people and prescribe the right medicine. The situation has improved. Compared with yesterday, the number of infected people has decreased by [-]%. But there are still more than [-] people."

Hearing that the infected person was under control, Wang Yan felt a little more relaxed, but still said in a deep voice: "The plague is not infected by invading the skin, but is transmitted through the mouth, nose and breath. Therefore, seriously ill people should not be placed in the same room as the newly infected. , You must carry out isolation treatment according to different degrees of illness, prescribe the right medicine, save as many people as possible, and don't make people infected repeatedly."

"The general's understanding of medical science is far better than that of his subordinates." Hearing Wang Yanzhi's words, Chen Tianba said with great admiration: "The words of General An's subordinates, when people come into contact with the epidemic, they have covered their mouths and noses with wet cloths and opened their mouths wide open." The doors and windows are ventilated, serious illnesses are separated from mild ones, and the focus on self-cleaning has indeed brought the infection under control. Unlike the past, those with mild epidemics can be cured instead of being infected after just getting better. The feelings of Yangzhou will definitely get better, and the general is the hope of Yangzhou. Please also take yourself first and don't work too hard."

With the situation in Yangzhou, how could Wang Yan rest in peace? Although he was exhausted, he still held his body up and patrolled the city. He knew that he was the hope in the hearts of the soldiers and people in Yangzhou, so he had to appear in front of the soldiers and people from time to time and tell them, If Wang Shiheng has not fallen, Yangzhou will not fall.

(End of this chapter)